Second place. That was what was up for grabs in a fixture that felt like it was long overdue ever since Novocastrians bested our old foes at Sutherland Park in an emphatic victory. A 5-point win against a top 4 side in our league would set us up for one last game against Acklam in two weeks' time to cement our spot.

However, not all things are meant to be, and that was on display on Saturday. A poorly prepared Novocastrian’s side was bested by a well organised Medicals RFC team, and the last 20 minutes of the game reflected just that.

However, luckily enough for us, this fixture wasn’t the only one that caused a surprise within the Counties 1 Durham/Northumberland League table. With Peterlee and Horden snapping at our heels just 1 point short of us, they also fell short away to Stockton, meaning the difference stays the same between the two teams, and a 5-point win in two weeks will still be enough to put a shiny silver medal around our necks.

As for the game itself, a relatively positive start from a Josh Farley kick off didn’t last long as Meds seemed to dominate possession on their home turf, with the full support of a home crowd. Novos sustained the pressure well in the opening exchanges, forcing turnovers and starting to exhaust the meds lads who were intent on playing edge to edge. However, we would concede first in a try the home side probably deserved but achieved in an unfortunate matter. Some neat running and good hands from their outside center provided a 1 on 1 up against Farley covering the wide channel. An accidental stray hand found its way into the eyelid of our flyhalf and just like that we found ourselves 5-0 down and without a key player for the remainder of the fixture.

We conceded again shortly after in the same corner. A loss of communication and awareness from the back 3 allowed for an opportunistic score. After failing to ground the ball in the dead ball area from a speculative box kick, Meds were able to stretch out to dive on the ball and score.

The lads were still in it however and after the resulting kick off some great defence from Rob Baldwin forced a penalty and we had a lineout 5 meters out. Some quick heads up thinking from Dave Medjigbodo-Lawson secured the lineout and he made a half break through the middle. Sometime later the overlap appeared, and Sam Cleife threw a miss pass over the top for Simeon Archibald to finish neatly in the corner. Good conversion from Michael Searle brought the game closer to now only 10-7 and we were back in it.

The half ended 17-7 after some nice Medicals play inside our half and we found ourselves with a 10-point deficit to make up. We have been in this position before earlier in the season and after another Rob Baldwin try a likely comeback looked to be on the cards.

That would be the last score we would get however, and the home side would proceed to run in try after try in the second 40 minutes as we looked completely off-par from our usual standards and just not up to the task. Full Time: Novos 14 - 45 Medicals.

However! It is not all doom and gloom just yet; we have two weeks to rectify some wrongs before we face Acklam on the 5th of April and then try and exact some revenge against Medicals again on the 12th in a winner takes all fixture in the Papa John’s Cup. Should we play to our usual standards and make it to the second round then a home draw could be on the cards to coincide with the Novos beer festival on the 25/26th of April after a resounding success this time last year.

As for the players, a compulsory meeting has been called before training at 6:30 tomorrow evening, open to all those that are able to attend. If you can’t make it then please get in touch with one of the coaches, and as usual training will be on Thursday at 19:00 too!

Up The Vos!